


Silly Things in Frippery

by kayliemalinza



Category: Pirates of the Caribbean (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Public Display of Affection, Shotgun Wedding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-01-04
Updated: 2010-01-04
Packaged: 2017-10-27 08:25:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,074
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/293726
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kayliemalinza/pseuds/kayliemalinza
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In a universe where James ends up sailing as a civilian under Anamaria, Jack gets himself accidentally engaged and invites them to the wedding to bail him out.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Silly Things in Frippery

The cathedral was the pride of its species: stone defying gravity to reach for God, laced with ornament more queer and curling than human aspiration. James wondered if the stained glass windows had attracted Jack as much as the golden candlesticks that lit them.

Anamaria pressed her shoulder to a shadowed pillar, unwilling to get as close to the church entrance as James to look inside the sanctuary. Her dress may pass for gentry (left over from a cargo stolen weeks ago) but she couldn't make her fingers flutter like the ladies, and the Earth would crack open before she produced a coquettish giggle. She was going to keep out of sight. "Jack sure picked a fine place to get up to something," she muttered, glaring suspiciously at the Spanish nobles filing in.

"I doubt the location had much to do with it," James said, stepping back from the entryway to lean with Ana on the pillar. Almost lean. The familiar stiffness of his jacket and the sight of regimented pews had realigned the units of his spine. "Neither did common sense or self-restraint," he mused.

"A _monkey_ would have better sense than to tup a Don's daughter in a confessional," Ana snapped.

"Ah, but would a monkey have impersonated the rakish son of another Don, and offered to marry her to get out of trouble?" James asked. She glared at him, but James smiled. "It wasn't a bad plan, as Jack's go. It might have succeeded if the Don hadn't put Sparrow under house arrest until the wedding." He plucked an orange blossom from the garlands wrapped around the pillar and set it in her hair.

"You daftie," muttered Ana, and jerked her head away to watch the wedding guests. She didn't move when James rescued the bloom from its tumble and twined it more securely in her hair, and added another above her ear. A long moment passed. "Think a few flowers will make me a lady?" she asked waspishly.

"The petals are stunning against your dark hair," James said, kissing her cheek.

Ana shrugged him off, ignoring how his fingers slid across her bare shoulder. "Paint a damn picture then."

James stepped back. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"Nothing's wrong, 'cept for this damn corset pinching me ribs and mad Jack. Couldn't he have written anybody else for help?" She crossed her arms and slouched against the pillar, heedless of how it wrinkled her skirts.

James looked at her for a moment, then turned back to watch the church doors with his hands clasped behind his back. "We were the only friends—and I use the term exceedingly loosely—anywhere near Spain." He glanced down at her again and the gold braiding on his jacket twinkled in the sun. "He seemed quite desperate."

Ana snorted. "Jack always be desperate, until he's got what he want from you and runs away. You certain we can't get at him before the ceremony?"

James shook his head. "His door is guarded by two of the biggest men I've ever seen in my life."

"No windows?"

"There is one, but it's too small for me, and...." He glanced down at her dress.

"Damn these skirts," Ana said. "They turn women into pretty vases to stick on a mantle, that's all they good for." She raised an eyebrow at James. "You like women like this? Silly helpless things in frippery?"

James raised an eyebrow right back. "I may be societally predisposed to appreciate frippery, madam, but no woman I love or ever loved can be called helpless." He paused, a smile lurking in the corner of his lips. "I will freely admit they are occasionally silly."

Anamaria narrowed her eyes at him, then turned away with a sniff. "I'll take it off below the window and climb through to get Jack. You stand guard."

James stared at her. "Take off your _dress?_ " he whispered. "In the middle of the afternoon?"

Ana rolled her eyes. "You societally predisposed to be a nitwit? Let's get Jack and go."

James shook his head minutely. "As... interesting as it would be to see you strip in broad daylight, I doubt Jack will be able to fit through the window."

Ana scowled.

James leaned over and murmured into her ear, "There is the other plan, you know."

"Aye," said Ana, swatting James away. "And it be the one where I do the work." She narrowed her eyes at James and poked him in the chest.

"Not quite all the work," said James, clasping her jabbing finger in his hands and bringing it up for a kiss.

"What are you doing?" Ana asked, glancing nervously at the gentry still milling around the cathedral's front.

"Normally," James murmured, "two people lurking in the shadows would appear to be quite suspicious. Unless—"

"Aye," said Ana. She tilted her head back, eyes slitting. The lift of her chin would have been imperious, except James didn't see her in finery and jewels (despite her currently wearing both) but in sailor's togs at the helm, face turned up to read the wind. "I didn't peg you for a playacting man," she said, slipping her hand from James' clasp to draw her fingertips across his lips.

"On the contrary, madam, I am being quite honest in my attentions," he said.

She jerked his arms around her, still unable to ask for affection with the same softness that she gave it. He cradled his arms around her waist and pressed a kiss to the seam of skin and hair; she curved her forehead into his lips, her fingers trailing paths between his buttons. She arched her neck to graze his mouth with her temple, the corner of an eye, and he kissed those places, too.

After a few minutes, Ana pushed away from the pillar. "I best go," she said. "You know how that stuff works, anyhow." She pointed dismissively at the font and brushed past James with a subtle brush of knuckles against his arm. James turned, wanting to point out that Anglicanism and Roman Catholicism were hardly the same (despite the claims of the Presbyterians), but she had quick-stepped back to shove her face into his. "You speak up at the right time, you hear? I won't be married to that stupid whoreson, not in a thousand lives."

"Aye aye, Captain," James said, and admired the flounce of her skirts as she melted into the busy Spanish street.


End file.
